Three areas from which to promote women in ICTs

By Carmen Sánchez Pichardo

In the technology sector, men occupy twice as many jobs worldwide as women, according to data updated to 2025 by the International Labor Organization. Although historically the presence of women has been lower, the truth is that in recent decades significant progress has been made, but much remains to be done.

With almost a decade of experience in technology project management, I realize that the presence of women has grown, but we are still a minority. According to Mexican government data in the third quarter of 2024, men employed in Software and Multimedia Developers and Analysts represented 81.4% of the employed population in this segment and women only 18.6%.

If we broaden the spectrum and look at the full picture of the industry with data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), the figures are much more encouraging. In the Economic Census 2024which INEGI has just published, shows employment data by sector and economic activity. In Mexico, 648,669 people are employed in the ICT sector, including manufacturing, commerce, processing and computer services, software, design and electronic components. This figure is 9.98% higher than in the previous 2018 CE, where there were 589 thousand 789 employees. 

If we look at the distribution of this data by gender, it shows that the representation of women has grown from 45% to 48% and there are already 313,86 women who are active in this industry. However, the more specialization is required for the job and in managerial positions is where there seems to be a bigger gap. 

There are three areas from which this female presence can be boosted and enhanced in a context where, in addition, there is an increasing demand for specialists in areas such as Big Data, FinTech engineering, specialists in AI and machine learning, and software and application developers. 

Culture, education and incentives at an early age

Interest in what are known as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers can be encouraged from an early age and emphasized in girls to break stereotypes that are sometimes generated in school environments or educational centers. 

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